{"id":60099346,"date":"2025-09-17T03:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T02:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?post_type=podcast&#038;p=60099346"},"modified":"2025-09-17T11:06:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T10:06:23","slug":"can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Kashmir finally tackle its growing environmental crisis?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>After six years of direct rule from New Delhi, a new administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/jammu-and-kashmir\/presidents-rule-revoked-in-jk-after-6-years-paves-way-for-omar-abdullah-govt\/article68750218.ece\">came to power<\/a> in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir in October 2024. In a region long marked by political instability and military conflict, the new government faces many challenges. The environment is undoubtably one of these, given the region\u2019s high vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With glaciers melting, rivers becoming increasingly polluted, wetlands shrinking and rampant urbanisation, Kashmir\u2019s ecosystems are strained and the livelihoods of local communities under threat. Despite all this, the manifestos of parties competing in last year\u2019s election revealed a lack of focus on such issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-cd-related-news alignright block--related-news loading\" data-post-id=\"60059393\"><div class=\"block--related-news__image\"><\/div><div class=\"block--related-news__content\"><span class=\"block--related-news__heading\">Recommended<\/span><span class=\"block--related-news__title\"><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>In our fourth episode of The Third Pole Podcast, Srinagar-based journalist Auqib Javeed guides listeners through the region\u2019s worsening environmental challenges. He highlights pressures from unregulated tourism, large infrastructure projects and declining fisheries, and explains how these changes are already affecting communities, and could have far-reaching impacts across South Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joining him is Omair Ahmad, Dialogue Earth\u2019s former South Asia managing editor and greatly missed host of this podcast. Having covered Kashmir for much of his career, he explains how years of conflict, political instability, limited local powers and weak governance have compounded its environmental problems. He strikes a note of hope for the future though. Things can turn around, and key to this is empowering local players, such as panchayat members and municipal councillors, to implement solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-pull-quote block--pull-quote\"><div class=\"block--pull-quote__wrapper\"><blockquote class=\"block--pull-quote__quote\">When a political conflict is militarised, environmental issues go to the bottom of the heap<\/blockquote><cite class=\"block--pull-quote__cite\">Omair Ahmad, former South Asia managing editor, Dialogue Earth<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-article-image aligncenter block--article-image block--article-image--article\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--article-image__column\"><div class=\"hide-expand block--article-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Auqib-Javeed_reporting_Pampore_Jammu-Kashmir_Faisal-Bashir.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Auqib-Javeed_reporting_Pampore_Jammu-Kashmir_Faisal-Bashir-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Auqib-Javeed_reporting_Pampore_Jammu-Kashmir_Faisal-Bashir-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Auqib-Javeed_reporting_Pampore_Jammu-Kashmir_Faisal-Bashir.jpg 2560w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 1024px) 1024px, 2560px\" alt=\"A group of men in traditional attire have a conversation outdoors, with expansive fields and mountains in the background.\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--article-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--article-image__caption\">Auqib Javeed (front right) interviewing saffron farmers about the lack of water supply during a reporting assignment in Pampore, Jammu and Kashmir (Image: Faisal Bashir)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Auqib-Javeed_reporting_Pampore_Jammu-Kashmir_Faisal-Bashir.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1707\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2560\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-guests\">Guests<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/author\/auqib-javeed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Auqib Javeed<\/a>, independent journalist<br><a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/author\/omairahmad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Omair Ahmad<\/a>, former South Asia managing editor, Dialogue Earth<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-credits\">Credits<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Host: Shalinee Kumari<br>Producer: Shalinee Kumari<br>Audio edit and sound design: <a href=\"https:\/\/linktr.ee\/syncsoundsabha\">Sync Sound Sabha<\/a><br>Recording studio: <a href=\"https:\/\/pindropmedia.com\/\">Pindrop Media<\/a><br>Artwork: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sananasir.co\/\">Sana Nasir<\/a><br>Thanks to: Lizi Hesling, Nanaui Amoros Silva, Chaia Dechen, Isa Lim, Sam Gelder<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-music-credits\">Music credits<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/app.sessions.blue\/browse\/track\/5ec5748d-a71a-4a02-adf3-36a374c5b846\">\u201cAlarm Cycle\u201d by Blue Dot Sessions<\/a>, licence: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">CC BY NC<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/app.sessions.blue\/browse\/track\/05ee6012-dfd2-499d-bc8e-b8ab6d895af6\">\u201cBorough\u201d by Blue Dot Sessions<\/a>, licence: <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">CC BY NC<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-about-the-series\">About the series<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Third Pole Podcast is a Dialogue Earth series focusing on climate change and the environment in the Himalayan watershed. It aims to create a space for beyond-the-article conversations with our journalists and field experts. At the same time, we also ask questions about the state of environmental journalism in South Asia: why it\u2019s needed, what issues it should be looking at and what challenges it faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Episode four of The Third Pole Podcast explores whether the region\u2019s new government can address long-overlooked challenges after years of political instability<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":60099376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[761,764],"tags":[519,50041598,50040707],"country":[20000111],"class_list":["post-60099346","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","category-nature","tag-climate-impacts","tag-government","tag-the-third-pole","country-india"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Can Kashmir finally tackle its growing environmental crisis?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Episode four of The Third Pole Podcast explores whether the region\u2019s new government can address long-overlooked challenges after years of political instability\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can Kashmir finally tackle its growing environmental crisis?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Episode four of The Third Pole Podcast explores whether the region\u2019s new government can address long-overlooked challenges after years of political instability\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dialogue Earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-17T10:06:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250910_TTPP_thumbnail-ep4-small.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/\",\"name\":\"Can Kashmir finally tackle its growing environmental crisis?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250910_TTPP_thumbnail-ep4-small.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-17T02:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-17T10:06:23+00:00\",\"description\":\"Episode four of The Third Pole Podcast explores whether the region\u2019s new government can address long-overlooked challenges after years of political instability\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250910_TTPP_thumbnail-ep4-small.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250910_TTPP_thumbnail-ep4-small.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Two men stand in front of a stylized landscape featuring mountains and winding rivers\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can Kashmir finally tackle its growing environmental crisis?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Dialogue Earth\",\"description\":\"Global climate and environment news\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png\",\"width\":256,\"height\":256,\"caption\":\"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DialogueEarth_\",\"\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DialogueEarth.English\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dialogue.earth\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dialogueearth\/\"],\"publishingPrinciples\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/about\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can Kashmir finally tackle its growing environmental crisis?","description":"Episode four of The Third Pole Podcast explores whether the region\u2019s new government can address long-overlooked challenges after years of political instability","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can Kashmir finally tackle its growing environmental crisis?","og_description":"Episode four of The Third Pole Podcast explores whether the region\u2019s new government can address long-overlooked challenges after years of political instability","og_url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/","og_site_name":"Dialogue Earth","article_modified_time":"2025-09-17T10:06:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250910_TTPP_thumbnail-ep4-small.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/","name":"Can Kashmir finally tackle its growing environmental crisis?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250910_TTPP_thumbnail-ep4-small.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-17T02:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-17T10:06:23+00:00","description":"Episode four of The Third Pole Podcast explores whether the region\u2019s new government can address long-overlooked challenges after years of political instability","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250910_TTPP_thumbnail-ep4-small.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250910_TTPP_thumbnail-ep4-small.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Two men stand in front of a stylized landscape featuring mountains and winding rivers"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/can-kashmir-finally-tackle-its-growing-environmental-crisis\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can Kashmir finally tackle its growing environmental crisis?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/","name":"Dialogue Earth","description":"Global climate and environment news","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization","name":"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png","width":256,"height":256,"caption":"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/DialogueEarth_","","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DialogueEarth.English","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dialogue.earth\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dialogueearth\/"],"publishingPrinciples":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/about\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/60099346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60099346"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/60099346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60099401,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/60099346\/revisions\/60099401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60099376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60099346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60099346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60099346"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=60099346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}